Plane forced to turn back to the UK over faulty light bulb

Exclusive by Kate Mansey, sundaymirror.co.uk 24/02/2008

A plane carrying British tourists was forced to turn back to the UK... after the pilot said that a light bulb needed changing.

Passengers on a Thomson jet from Manchester to Marrakech were told there was a technical problem. But they were shocked when the pilot then announced: "We need to go back so we can change a light bulb."

An hour into the journey the plane turned around and headed back 600 miles to Luton Airport.

The 1,200 extra miles would have burned 2,000 gallons of fuel at a cost of £5,000. Furious holidaymakers then had to wait two hours at the airport while staff changed the bulb.

Passenger Richard Chambers, 27, said: "I couldn't believe it. How many Thomson staff does it take to change a light bulb?" Another passenger added: "People were starting to panic because we thought, 'Hang on, there must be more to this than just a lightbulb'."

A spokesman for Thomson said Luton was the firm's technical base and the fault involved a warning light monitoring the wing-flaps. "The captain said the required repairs were 'changing a light bulb', as to go into technicalities might have left a few customers baffled," she added.